Gigabyte is launching a new flagship Z390 chipset-based motherboard under its AORUS brand. The aptly-named Z390 AORUS Xtreme ratchets up the aesthetics, power delivery, connectivity, and the RGB Fusion to prepare for Intel’s newest 9th Generation Core processors including the eight core Core i9 9900K.

The AORUS Xtreme uses a 16-phase Digital IR power phase design that can self-balance to reduce clocks of VRM controller and heat generated by the various phases especially under heavy overclocking scenarios. Gigabyte continues to include its Fins-Array heatsinks though they have been upgraded to four direct touch heatpipes to help cool the VRM areas. There is also a massive backplate and coating on the underside of the PCB to help dissipate heat though in practice it’s likely more for aesthetics than anything. The LGA 1151 socket is paired with four DDR4 DIMM slots. Sitting below the processor are three PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots, two PCI-E 3.0 x1 slots, and three PCI-E 3.0 x4 M.2 (or SATA) slots with Thermal Guard heatsinks. Further, there are six SATA 6 Gpbs ports in the bottom right corner. As far as power delivery, the board has two 8-pin CPU power connectors, a right-angle solid pin 24-pin ATX connector, and a 6-pin PCI-E connector to provide auxiliary slot power for graphics cards.

MSI have added two new families of motherboards to their product lines, with the first two models using the Z390 chipset.

The ACE sports a 12+1 power phase layout and supports DDR4-4500 if you can get your hands on it. The motherboard will have a familiar array of features including Shield Frozr M.2 heatsinks, Mystic Lighting and one touch overclocking with Gaming Boost.

The Gaming Edge series sports many of the same features, adding impressively sized VRM heatsinks and 8+4 pin CPU power for enhanced stability for overclockers. The onboard Intel WiFi uses CNVi wave 2 technology to offer wireless transfer speeds up to 1.73GHz. It also introduces MSI's Dragon Center which offers a unified interface to contol applications like GAME MODE, VOICE BOOST and LIVE UPDATE.

MEG Z390 ACE - ACE YOUR ENEMY
MEG Z390 ACE is built to win. Outplay any opponent, crush entire teams, and come out on top of every match with a motherboard designed for the world’s best players. MEG Z390 ACE introduces the ACE name to the MEG series, a segment of enthusiast grade motherboards that includes the renowned GODLIKE motherboards from MSI. MEG series motherboards are designed for PC hardware enthusiasts keen on extreme performance and advanced technology features.

MEG Z390 ACE is designed to empower users with incredible potential and dazzle onlookers with its striking appearance. Mystic Light Infinity, an innovative infinity mirror lighting zone, shows millions of colors across 29 dynamic effects. An aggressive 12+1 power phase layout guarantees reliable operation with compatible Intel processors even when overclocked. Up to three high performance NVMe solid state drives can be added with the Triple Turbo M.2 arrangement for blazing fast storage transfer speeds. With a host of other features – Pre-Installed I/O Shielding, Audio Boost HD, Core Boost, DDR4 Boost with Steel Armor, Game Boost dial, Dual Front USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C – make your every play GODLIKE and ACE your enemies.

MEG Z390 ACE - ACE YOUR ENEMY
The MPG GAMING EDGE family clears a path with cutting-edge designs, stylized with sharp lines and a holographic heatsink surface that can split and refract light. The first generation of the MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE family includes products in ATX, micro-ATX, and mini-ITX form factors. MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC and MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC are forged for mainstream gaming performance while the MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC is designed for powerful small form factor systems. A Core Boost optimized VRM layout with an Extended Heatsink drive high-end Intel processors even under the harshest conditions. The fastest storage devices are supported by the inclusion of Twin Turbo M.2 and Intel Turbo USB 3.1 Gen2.
Integration of the CNVi wave 2 Wireless solution from Intel introduces Wi-Fi transfer speeds up to 1.73GHz. Pristine 7.1 surround sound audio is achieved through the use of premium audio components mounted onto an isolated circuit.

With the advent of the 9th generation of Core processors from Intel, we see the market return to what we have been used to in the past. Intel's offering is now faster and more effective than AMD's Ryzen, but it is also significantly more expensive. Instead of getting an APU and heatsink for ~$300, you will be paying ~$530 for just the processor with no cooler. That said the i9-9900K makes sense for those who have spent the money on an RTX 2080 Ti and a high resolution monitor, since they've already set a large budget; while those with less lofty dreams will be very happy with the Ryzen 7 2700X.

The question of overclocking is an interesting one, as Ken had no luck getting the chip to run above 5GHz. [H]ard|OCP had a slightly better experience, hitting 5.14GHz with a 3600MHz memory bus, which could not match the content creation power of Threadripper 2 even though it was sucking down more juice. Check out their review and then browse through the ones below.

"The new 9th generation Intel i9-9900K CPU is upon us! AMD has been pushing into Intel's desktop market and Intel knows it. Today Intel is pulling the curtain back on "not paid for" reviews and we are happy to be serving you one of those up here today. Is the i9-9900K better than the Ryzen 7 2700X, and is it worth the staggering price premium?"

Overview

One of the most radical changes to happen in the last two years in the PC hardware space has to be the launch of AMD's Ryzen processors. Despite the failure that was the FX-series with their Bulldozer architecture, AMD managed to shock the industry with the performance of their next generation Zen architecture.

After generations upon generations of consumer processors topping out at four cores going back to the Core 2 days, Intel finally launched their first 6-core processor for consumers with the 8700K almost exactly a year ago.

AMD's continued to persevere with the launch of the second generation Ryzen 7 2700X earlier this year, which managed to improve the single-threaded performance gap between AMD and Intel.

Still, this performance gap existed, leaving room for what Intel is launching today, their first 8-core mainstream consumer processor, the Core i9-9900K. Finally having core count parity with AMD, and still holding an advantage in single-threaded performance, this launch has garnered a lot of attention.

We are currently limited to unboxing and showing off Z390 motherboards; no performance reviews yet. MSI's MEG was the queen of X399 motherboards so it will be interesting to see if they can replicate their success on the Z390 chipset. As you can see below there are a large amount of features; those metal shields cover the three M.2 ports with a U.2 hidden away as well, with the option to add another pair of M.2 with an adapter. For PCIe you have four 16x slots as well as a 1x, so you know you are going to have a fair number of PCIe lanes available on the chip and motherboard.

"MSI pulled out all the stops for their massive, EATX-sized MEG Z390 Godlike motherboard, which comes with three M.2 slots, full RGB support, and an adapter to add two more M.2 NVMe slots. You also get an OLED screen that can display pre-programmed stats and messages."

At their event in New York City today, Intel took the wraps off of their much-rumored 9th generation series of desktop processors.

Built upon the same "14 nm++" process technology as Coffee Lake, this new 9th generation is launching with 3 new processor models.

At the lower end, we have the i5-9600K, replacing the current i5-8600K. Staying with the same 6C/6T configuration, the 9600K improves the base frequency by 100 MHz, while adding 300 MHz to the rated single-core Turbo Boost 2.0 clock speed.

Moving onto the 8-core processors, we have the i7-9700K and the i9-9900K. Coming with Intel's first consumer i9 processor also comes the first i7 desktop processor not to feature Hyper-threading. While both processors have eight physical cores, only the i9-9900K will feature Hyper-threading allowing for a 16-thread configuration. Both processors maintain the same 95W TDP as the i7-8700K.

The lack of Hyper-Threading on the i7-9700K will provide quite the interesting performance comparison with the current flagship 6C/12T i7-8700K.

The flagship Intel Core i9-9900K has a base clock 100 MHz lower than the i7-8700K but features the same 5.0 GHz single-core Turbo Boost clock as the i7-8086K. Intel has also said that the all-core frequency for the i9-9900K is 400 MHz faster than the i7-8700K. Additionally, the i9-9900K features 16MB of cache, compared to the 12MB found on the i7-8700K.

Price-wise, both the i5-9600K and i7-9700K are similar to the 8th generation processors they are replacing, while the i9-9900K will come in at $500.

Addressing one of the most common complaints from enthusiasts about recent Intel processors, the 9th generation series of processors will come with what Intel is referring to as "Solder Thermal Interface Material" (STIM).

Switching back to solder as the TIM for these CPUs should provide significantly improved thermal conductivity, resulting in additional overclocking headroom as well as cooler and quieter operation at stock frequencies without the need of delidding.

Alongside these new processors comes the launch of a new chipset from Intel, Z390. In addition to native USB 3.1 Gen 1 (10 Gbit/s) support, Intel claims the Z390 chipset will sport improved power management for the 8-core processor variants, as well as integrated 802.11 AC connectivity.

The Z390 platform will continue to feature the same "up to 40" PCI Express lanes that we've seen for several generations, with 16 lanes being directly connected to the CPU, and the rest coming from the chipset which is still connected via a DMI 3.0 link.

Despite the launch of a new chipset in the form of Z390, these new 9th generation chipsets will maintain compatibility with all previous 300-series Intel chipsets, such as Z370 through updates that will be made available by motherboard manufacturers.

These new 9th generation processors will also feature a combination of hardware and software fixes for the following side-channel attack security vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown:

Intel published a paper giving an overview of the features to expect on motherboards using Z390 chipset. Most of the features will be familiar so why not start with the fancy layout diagram?

One of the features you might not consider, but perhaps should, is the combination of the quality of the onboard graphics chip on Coffee Lake with the outputs of a Z390 motherboard. The motherboard can support up to three HDMI or DP outputs, which can provide 10bit colour, High Dynamic Range and Rec. 2020 at up to 4k resolutions.

Storage options are as you would expect, with Intel Rapid Storage Technology supported for both SATA and PCIe, with support for Optane if you so choose to use it. Intel have updated their HD Audio in this generation and their Smart Sound Technology branding indicates the presence of a DAC on your motherboard.

Networking is also worth a mention, with gigabit transfers available on the integrated NIC as well as through the Wireless-AC 9560 NIC, with integrated Bluetooth 5 support as well.

Yes, it will support overclocking unlocked processors. The PR is below.

CREATE YOUR NEXT GREAT PERFORMANCE WITH THE 8TH GENERATION INTEL CORE PROCESSOR
The Intel Z390 chipset and 8th Generation Intel Core processors give you the edge you need to successfully defeat your rivals. Quickly upload and access your favorite streams and get the gaming boost you need with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology. With the Intel Z390 chipset and 8th Generation Intel Core processors, you can conquer your quests with confidence.

UNLEASH YOUR NETWORK PERFORMANCE
Achieve Gigabit wireless connections with 1st generation integrated Intel Wireless-AC support. The Intel Z390 chipset integrates an Intel wireless 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5 solution allowing you to connect up to Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds with Intel Wireless-AC 9560. With no Ethernet cable required, your desktop will be ready for all current and future wireless use cases and has the flexibility to be located in more places within your home or office.